Tour de France 2024

Cavendish takes historic 35th stage win!

Mark Cavendish(Bild: Associated Press)

The "Manx Missile" has struck again - Mark Cavendish has made history at the Tour de France! The 39-year-old Briton won the bunch sprint in Saint-Vulbas on Wednesday and took his 35th stage win in total at the Tour of France. Cavendish now holds the sole victory record, which he previously shared with Belgian cycling legend Eddy Merckx. In the flat stage, Tadej Pogacar maintained his lead in the overall classification without any problems.

Cavendish had the right tactics after 177 kilometers, rode carefully and took advantage of every gap that presented itself. The man from the Isle of Man left Jasper Philipsen and Alexander Kristoff behind him in the decision. "He did it perfectly. It was with an eye, with speed. There was no luck involved," said his former team colleague and current Eurosport expert Bernhard Eisel. After his historic victory, Cavendish was congratulated by half of the peloton before falling into the arms of his wife and children.

A difficult start to this year's Tour for the sprinter
"Cav" celebrated his first one-day victory at the Tour 16 years ago, his penultimate in Carcassonne in 2021. Last year, he had to abandon the Tour due to a broken collarbone. However, inspired by the ambition to take sole possession of the record, he postponed his retirement until later and signed for another year with Team Astana. The start of this year's Tour was difficult for the sprinter. He was tortured by the heat and crossed the finish line a long way behind.

"It went exactly as I had imagined!"
"I've had bad days at the Tour before. You always have to do your best until an opportunity arises," said Cavendish. He thanked his team boss Alexander Vinokourov for believing in him. "It was a big gamble for my boss and the team. You have to go all-in and that's what we did. It went exactly as planned," said the record-breaking rider. "The Tour de France is bigger than cycling," he added.

Pogacar showed no weaknesses
Pogacar showed no weaknesses in the yellow jersey. The top favorite is still 45 seconds ahead of Belgian Remco Evenepoel and 50 seconds ahead of defending champion Jonas Vingegaard. East Tyrolean Felix Gall follows in twelfth place in the intermediate classification, 3:21 minutes behind the leader. He finished 96th on Wednesday, while the best Austrian was Marco Haller in 47th place.

Pogacar experienced a scary moment just 60 kilometers before the finish. When passing a traffic island, he narrowly escaped a crash with a great deal of skill. While Pogacar reacted with lightning speed, six riders fell immediately behind him. Among them was Gregor Mühlberger from Lower Austria. However, all of them were able to continue the race.

Before the first of two individual time trials of this Tour is held on Friday, the sprinters will be in demand once again on Thursday. The 6th stage from Macon to Dijon is not too long at 163.5 kilometers.

The result of stage 5:
1st Mark Cavendish (GBR) Astana 4:08:46 hrs.
2nd Jasper Philipsen (BEL) Alpecin-Deceuninck
3rd Alexander Kristoff (NOR) Uno-X Mobility
Further:
47. Marco Haller (AUT) Red Bull
96th Felix Gall (AUT) Decathlon - all same time
161st Gregor Mühlberger (AUT) Movistar +1:02 min.

The standings in the overall standings:
1st Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE 19:06:38 hrs.
2nd Remco Evenepoel (BEL) Soudal +45 sec.
3. Jonas Vingegaard (DEN) Visma +50
Further:
12th Felix Gall (AUT) Decathlon +3:21 min.
81st Gregor Mühlberger (AUT) Movistar +49:18
112th Marco Haller (AUT) Red Bull +1:04:39 hrs.